Special Events

Those special times in our lives can create some wonderful moments for us all to treasure. However, they can just as easily create some liabilities that we did not anticipate. Whether it is a wedding, social cocktail party, or an outdoor festival, there are liabilities that we may have created by renting a facility and/or signing a contractual agreement. The terms of this contract could require General Liability insurance for the event and the naming of the owner of the facility as an Additional insured. What does this mean? Should an injury occur at the event that we are liable for or damage has occurred to the property we do not own like the facility we are renting, the owner would want protection through this General Liability policy. By requiring to be an Additional insured, the owner shares the limit of liability coverage you purchased in your Special Event General Liability policy. It is not a separate limit of coverage for the owner. Food items such as hot dogs and other short order items can create the potential for sickness to occur if it is not properly cooked. There are also issues developed when you are providing or serving the alcoholic beverages at the event. Although for smaller functions, this may be covered by the host liquor liability coverages that are typically provided by the General Liability policy. Many times there is the need of purchasing Liquor Liability coverages as well.

These special events could be numerous requiring you to have more than just a short term policy for each event. We have the ability to insure these on an annual basis for a much lower annual premium than purchasing separate policies for each event. In addition, we have the markets to provide youth sporting associations coverage for those games that occur during the seasonal times of the year. Not only can we provide this General Liability coverage, but also property coverage and accident coverage for those participating in the games. Many of the special event policies exclude participants. With most of the exposure occurring to those participating in the event, why would you not cover them. Waivers signed by the parents may be part of your answer, but can you rely on that when the parent sues the association? Who pays the defense costs involved in defending your contention that the parents knew the risks they were taking? Not the Special Event policy that has this exclusion. Don’t take that chance! Our policy does not cost you anymore than what you would pay for one of those with the exclusion. It simply requires someone to know that the product exists and at Carolina Insurance Solutions (CIS), we make it our duty to you to monitor the markets that write this special coverage.